15: Chapter 15 The Abacus Was Miscalculated

Half of the Display Cabinets in the Heavenly Secret Pavilion had already been emptied by Gu Yelian.

The Empress in red had completely lost her imperial dignity at this moment. Like a hamster, she clutched a pile of bottles and jars and stuffed them into her Storage Pouch, muttering to herself, "This bottle of 'Nine-Transformations Soul-Returning Pill' is not bad, Revered Master just happens to need it... This 'Stellar Stone' can be sold for quite a few Spirit Stones... Eh? What's this? 'Heavenly Secret Deduction Plate'? Sounds expensive, take it, take it!"

Mo Chi was even more direct, carrying his heavy sword and swinging it toward the golden pillars on the wall.

"Revered Master said to take everything valuable!"

Clang!

A load-bearing pillar carved with Dragons and Phoenixes was forcibly hacked through by him, causing the entire pavilion to shake three times.

Qian Ji' mouth twitched as he watched his nest, which he had meticulously arranged for five hundred years, turn into a demolition site before his eyes. He took several deep breaths to suppress the urge to strike.

"Revered Master..." Qian Ji turned to look at Bai Yu, a smile on his face that looked more painful than crying. "All the family assets I've saved up over these years are right here. If you move it all away, I'll be left whistling for my supper in the future."

"Whistling for your supper?" Bai Yu was sitting in Qian Ji' main seat with his legs crossed. Hearing this, he lifted his eyelids. "When you took my 'God King Seal' to exchange for benefits from the Heavenly Dao Alliance back then, why didn't you think about whether I would be left whistling for my supper?"

Qian Ji' expression froze.

He thought this matter was buried deep enough, but he didn't expect Revered Master to settle old scores as soon as he returned.

"I was also forced by circumstances back then..."

"Enough nonsense." Bai Yu interrupted him, taking out the Jade Slip from his robe and tossing it in his hand. "Tell me, who exactly is the 'person who backstabbed me back then' recorded on this?"

Qian Ji was silent for a moment before slowly speaking, "Sixth Junior Brother, Chu Kuangge."

Boom!

The aura on Bai Yu's body erupted instantly, and the temperature of the entire Heavenly Secret Pavilion plummeted to the freezing point.

Even Gu Yelian and Mo Chi, who were busy moving things, stopped their actions and looked over in unison.

"Old Sixth?" A trace of disbelief flashed in Gu Yelian's eyes. "How is that possible? Didn't he admire Revered Master the most? When Revered Master taught him 'Ten Thousand Swords Returning to the Ancestor' back then, he was so happy he didn't sleep for three days and nights..."

"It's precisely because he admired him too much that he would backstab him," Qian Ji said faintly, his tone carrying an indescribable complexity. "Sixth Junior Brother followed the Sword Dao, emphasizing 'charging forward undaunted, I alone am supreme.' Revered Master was too strong back then, so strong that he couldn't see any hope of surpassing him."

"So, he chose another path."

"To personally kill his own obsession and sever his Heart Demon, using that to achieve a Breakthrough in his Sword Dao Bottleneck."

Bai Yu closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

In his memory, the figure of a young man who always followed behind him with a gaze as fanatical as a believer's emerged.

During the most intense moment of the God-Demon War back then, it was Chu Kuangge who had risked his life to block a fatal blow from the Demon Venerable for him.

But it was also not long after that battle, in the trap set to besiege him, the first sword strike was delivered by Chu Kuangge.

"Where is he now?" Bai Yu opened his eyes, the killing intent within them almost solidifying.

"I don't know." Qian Ji shook his head. "Sixth Junior Brother disappeared after that battle. The Heavenly Secret Pavilion has searched for him for five hundred years. We only know he's still alive, but his specific location... cannot be calculated."

"Cannot be calculated?" Bai Yu sneered. "You're quite pathetic as the Master of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion."

Qian Ji did not refute but simply took another Jade Slip from his sleeve.

"Although I can't find Sixth Junior Brother, I've discovered something else." Qian Ji' expression became more serious than ever before. "In that siege back then, although the Shadow Demon Venerable was the mastermind, the person who actually provided the location of the 'god king token fragment' wasn't him."

"Who was it?"

"The Upper Realm."

As soon as these two words were spoken, the air in the entire Heavenly Secret Pavilion froze.

Bai Yu's pupils constricted slightly.

The Upper Realm was a world of a higher level than the Cultivation World, the place of Ascension that all Cultivators dreamed of.

"Why would people from the Upper Realm target me?" Bai Yu asked in a heavy voice.

"Because you were too strong back then." Qian Ji smiled bitterly. "So strong that you touched the boundaries of certain rules. The Upper Realm has regulations that the Lower Realm must not produce an existence surpassing the 'Half-Step Immortal Realm'; otherwise, they will be viewed as a threat and eliminated in advance."

"And your God King Realm back then was already infinitely close to a True Immortal."

Bai Yu understood.

This wasn't a personal grudge, but a dimensional strike.

The people of the Upper Realm regarded him as a variable that needed to be stifled early.

"So, Old Sixth was also being used?" Gu Yelian couldn't help but ask.

"No." Qian Ji shook his head. "Sixth Junior Brother's backstab was his own choice. The people of the Upper Realm only added fuel to the fire, giving him a 'reasonable' excuse and sufficient benefits."

"As for the other Senior and Junior Brothers..." Qian Ji paused. "They all more or less received 'invitations' from the Upper Realm. It's just that some refused, some chose silence, and some..."

He didn't finish, but the meaning was already very clear.

That trap back then was not just an invasion by external enemies, but also an internal split.

Bai Yu leaned against the back of the chair, closing his eyes in deep thought.

After a moment, he suddenly opened his eyes and looked at Qian Ji. "What about you?"

"What?"

"In that trap back then, which side were you on?" Bai Yu's gaze was as sharp as a blade. "Don't tell me you knew nothing. With your personality, it's impossible for you not to have calculated it in advance."

Qian Ji fell silent.

After a long time, he raised his head and looked directly into Bai Yu's eyes.

"I... remained neutral."

"Heh." Bai Yu sneered. "Neutral? That sounds very nice."

"I know that no matter how I explain, Revered Master will not forgive me." Qian Ji lowered his head, his tone rarely becoming low. "But I did indeed calculate that battle back then, and I also calculated that Revered Master would lose. So I chose to preserve my strength and wait for the day Revered Master returned."

"For these five hundred years, the Heavenly Secret Pavilion has superficially submitted to various major forces, but in reality, it has been secretly gathering intelligence and clearing out the remnants who participated in the siege back then."

"I know I am guilty, but I have never betrayed Revered Master."

After saying this, Qian Ji knelt down, his forehead touching the ground.

This was the most formal rite of atonement in the Cultivation World.

Bai Yu looked at his eldest Disciple kneeling on the ground and did not speak.

The atmosphere froze like a block of iron.

Gu Yelian and Mo Chi glanced at each other, neither daring to make a sound.

Just then, Bai Yu suddenly stood up and walked over to Qian Ji.

Slap!

A loud slap.

Qian Ji' face instantly swelled up, and a trace of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

But he did not dodge or resist, just kept his head lowered without saying a word.

"This slap is to punish you for your cowardice back then." Bai Yu withdrew his hand, his voice as cold as ice. "You calculated that I would lose, but you didn't calculate that I would win. You underestimated your Revered Master too much."

Qian Ji' body jolted.

"Get up." Bai Yu turned and walked back to his seat. "I don't want to mention the past again. But remember, from today onward, the Heavenly Secret Pavilion is no longer your Heavenly Secret Pavilion alone; it is my, Bai Yu's, Heavenly Secret Pavilion."

"Hand over all your intelligence networks, your secret agents, and your layouts."